Pasadena Heritage is opening up its headquarters to the community, offering a unique blend of history, live jazz, and cocktails at “Preservation Libations: Jazz Club Classics at the Blinn House” on Saturday, June 8, at 5:30 p.m.
Hosted at the historic 1906 Blinn House, the event aims to engage a broader audience in the group’s historic preservation efforts and promises an memorable night of culture and entertainment.
“We are always looking for new ways to engage with the community and invite them to the historic Blinn House,” Kristen Norton, Education Director at Pasadena Heritage, said. “For this program, we wanted to pair live music with festive food and libations with a New Orleans twist as a special nod to Preservation Hall in New Orleans.”
The evening will transform the Blinn House’s Hunt Room into a dimly lit jazz hall, with the EPC Jazz Group taking center stage to serenade guests with classic jazz tunes. Attendees can sit and enjoy the concert, explore the house’s historic first floor, or mingle in a vibrant reception.
“We’ve selected several hors d’oeuvres and festive beverages that fit the New Orleans theme,” Norton said. “From roasted shrimp and crudités with Old Bay remoulade to mini muffulettas, we’re sure to have something for everyone!”
The EPC Jazz Group, a quartet specializing in jazz standards and the Great American Songbook, plans to perform songs like “Take the ‘A’ Train,” “Autumn Leaves,” “Girl From Ipanema,” “Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans,” “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” “Beatrice,” and “On Green Dolphin Street.”
“Like the Blinn House and Pasadena itself, jazz has a rich, colorful, and noble heritage, and we try to honor the historical roots of the music in whatever we play,” Paul Ahern, the group’s co-founder and keyboardist.
The EPC Jazz Group also plays every Tuesday evening from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Los Angeles Athletic Club in Downtown Los Angeles.
Tickets for the event range from $20 to $40. Pasadena Heritage hopes the program will allow them to engage a broader audience and instill an interest in historic preservation and Pasadena’s diverse historic spaces.
The Preservation Libations series will return in September and December. In addition to this event, Pasadena Heritage is hosting “Preservation Pasadena: Shaping Suburbia: The Modern Era & Early Suburban Design” on June 22 and 23, exploring Pasadena’s earliest and best examples of tract housing.
For more information, visit https://pasadenaheritage.org/.
